Ch.88The Road to the Crusis Mountains (4)

Clippity-clop! Clippity-clop! Clippity-clop!

“Neeeiiigh!”

Surprisingly, there was a well-maintained path leading to the ancient tomb.

I could easily understand why—the numerous cargo wagons passing by me, loaded with logs and planks, told the story.

Around the ancient tomb stretched a vast forest, rich with various medicinal herbs, food ingredients, and timber. This likely supported a village of several hundred to thousand people, and clearing the ancient tomb was surely meant to ensure their safety.

Since it was an ancient tomb, it must have been built with strength nearly matching the Nariakiran Empire era, making it difficult to demolish. Clearly, they periodically called in armies or adventurers to clear it out.

It was a crude approach, but surprisingly common administration in smaller cities.

After all, officials only cared about avoiding incidents during their term.

“Whoa! Stop!”

“Neeeigh!”

Swoosh…!

I brought Bruiser to a halt after our mad dash and waited for Simon, Lucia, and Casia who were following from a distance.

Simon’s horse was a fine steed that could maintain decent speed, but the pack horse that Raisha was using couldn’t keep up with my warhorse’s pace.

“Should we buy more warhorses?”

“J-just two warhorses would be enough…”

“I’m only thinking of buying two.”

“Hehe…”

I kissed Raisha and then held her tightly, while she brushed back her hair and nestled against me.

Soon Simon and the elf sisters approached, and we regrouped to continue toward the ancient tomb.

*

“Good. This is it.”

After riding for about an hour and thirty minutes, we arrived at a mountain overlooking the village and reached the ancient tomb located there.

“The ancient tomb…”

Before us was a massive cavern entrance that practically screamed “I’m ancient.”

When Simon created light with magic and pushed it inside, we could see scattered bones littering the inner entrance.

“Lucia.”

“What?”

“Go get one of those bones.”

“O-okay.”

Lucia tiptoed forward, quickly grabbed a bone, and handed it to me.

I examined the bone carefully and successfully gathered the information I wanted.

“Look here. See these marks that look like they were scraped by a knife? This was an animal hunted for food by an intelligent being capable of using tools.”

“Orcs? Goblins?”

“I don’t know. But look at this.”

Crack!

I broke the bone and examined the marrow with my finger.

Marrow with remaining moisture stained my glove, and Simon muttered upon seeing it.

“Not much time has passed…”

I nodded, summoned my greatsword, and gripped it firmly.

“Nock your arrows. Raisha, stay by my side. Simon in the center, and you two guard the rear.”

“G-got it.”

“Alright. We’re going in.”

*

Thump… thump…

Our footsteps echoed as we entered the seemingly empty entrance.

The light Simon and I created illuminated our surroundings, but the tomb was too vast compared to our light sources. If enemies were present, we would be nothing more than glowing targets.

Yet without light, we could do nothing—truly a no-win situation.

Raisha and I had dark vision, but mine had the drawback of continuously draining my vitality, and even dark vision only amplified existing light; it couldn’t pierce absolute darkness.

“It’s too quiet…”

“We’re exposed on all sides. Move carefully—we could be surrounded.”

Casia and Simon’s voices came from behind, and I raised my hand to halt the party.

Everyone stopped, and I called Simon closer.

“Simon.”

“What is it?”

“Do you have a spell that can illuminate this entire place?”

“Hmm… I could use Maclux, but that would use up one of my spells…”

“Well, let’s find terrain suitable for defense first. Move the light around and look for something like a room.”

“Understood. I need to concentrate… cover me.”

“Lucia, Casia, stay close to Simon. Raisha, do you see anything yet?”

“No… nothing…”

Vweeeeeng…

With an eerie sound, the light Simon created slowly moved away, leaving only the illumination I created with Lumines, making our surroundings significantly darker.

“Found something.”

“Where is it?”

“There. Looks like some kind of antechamber at the end of that corridor.”

“Good. Simon, when I give the signal, use Maclux to light up this whole place.”

“Understood.”

“Iron Walker Party, we’re moving. Watch your step, and report anything unusual to me.”

Everyone nodded instead of answering, and we slowly advanced, ears attuned to the screaming sound of tightly drawn bowstrings.

Clatter! Clatter!

As we moved forward, countless piles of bones appeared at our feet.

When the bleached bones became too numerous to clear away, I used Tuta to forcefully push them aside, causing the sound of tumbling bones to echo throughout the cavern.

Patter-patter!

“Kyaaak!”

“Hisssss!”

Gradually, eyes began to appear around us with threatening sounds, and I signaled to Simon.

“Simon!”

“Maclux!”

BOOM!

A light so intense it could be mistaken for an explosion shot toward the ceiling, and we barely managed to open our eyes to discover goblins and orcs surrounding us on all sides.

“Everyone run! To the end of the corridor!”

I shouted until my voice grew hoarse, and the party members followed me, breaking through the encirclement.

“Kiriririk!”

“Out of my way!”

Whoosh! Whoosh!

SLASH!

As I swung my greatsword, goblins wearing armor crudely made from bones tied together with string were split in half, and Raisha cut down the orcs threatening our rear with her halberd, gradually building momentum for our charge.

Thwack! Thwack!

Thud! Thud-thud!

“They’re shooting arrows!”

“Ignore them and keep running! They can’t penetrate our armor anyway!”

Despite my words, cold sweat was already running down my back, remembering how an arrow finding a gap in armor had nearly killed someone in Shen’s dungeon in Rascal.

“Uooooh!!”

“Three orcs ahead!”

“Aaaah!”

I activated Axen to temporarily accelerate my body.

I then pierced the throat of the foremost orc, used my momentum to leap over it, and pushed another orc to its death while burning it with Ignatus and Tuta. Finally, I used Behde to bind the last orc as it tried to swing its club at me.

Squelch!

“Gweeeek…!”

Raisha then drove her halberd through the bound orc’s neck, killing it, while behind us, Lucia and Casia were fending off clinging goblins with their dual machetes.

With little distance left to the end of the corridor and no major obstacles ahead…

“Simon!”

At my urgent call, Simon, who had been launching fireballs with minor magic, raised his staff again, turned toward the rear, and shouted.

“Pulse!”

BOOM!

“Kiriririk!”

A shockwave erupted from the tip of his staff, and Lucia and Casia desperately ran toward me.

After releasing the shockwave, Simon channeled magical power into his staff and delivered a couple of slashing attacks, causing the pursuing goblins and orcs to fall in droves, completely unprepared for such strikes.

“Simon!!! Hurry!!”

“Logos, watch over this old man!”

Simon was then grabbed by my hand, and without looking back, I headed for the antechamber I had spotted earlier.

As soon as Simon and I barely made it inside, the light from Maclux faded, and we hastily created light sources while preparing to face the enemy again.

“Lucia! Casia! You take that side with Raisha! Simon! You’re with me covering this entrance!”

“Understood!”

“Hurry! They’re coming!”

The room had two entrances, and enemies were converging on both.

I held my sword wide in a stance suitable for thrusting, while Simon created several fireballs near his staff and threw them.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Faint screams could be heard with each explosion, followed by even louder howls.

“Simon! Protection spell!”

“Spectecta!”

As he slammed his staff down forcefully, what appeared to be panels of light sparsely covered the two empty entrances, and the sound of arrows bouncing off could be heard from the other side.

“Queeeek!”

“Kiriririk!”

Ping! Ping! Ping!

Slash! Crunch!

“Party leader! They’re coming!”

Simon shouted urgently, and I turned to slash the throat of an orc striking at the doorway.

Before the corpse even fell, others pushed in, and I wielded my sword like a toothpick, continuously pushing back the green-skinned monsters dripping with dark blood.

“There’s no end to them!”

“We’re going to be overwhelmed!”

“Simon! How many spells do you have left?!”

“Seven!”

“Enchant our weapons!”

“Enhance!”

As he cast the spell, our weapons began to glow blue.

“Eek!”

Thunk!

Sizzle!

“Quaaaak!!!!”

When I struck an orc’s head with my sword, the wound burned blue and instantly killed it. I readjusted my grip on the sword and swung it to inflict as many wounds on as many enemies as possible.

Slash! Slash!

With each wound that opened, enemies writhed in agony before dying, and gradually their numbers dwindled until they stopped completely.

“Cheek! Cheeeeek!”

“The enemies are retreating!”

Thus, we won the initial battle, slaying hundreds of monsters.

But… many more enemies still lurked in this tomb.

“Don’t let your guard down. We don’t know when they’ll attack again…”